Margaret Benson was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 author and amateur Egyptologist and one of the six children of Edward White Benson

Edward White Benson

Edward White Benson was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death.-Life:Edward White Benson was born in Highgate, Birmingham, the son of a Birmingham chemical manufacturer. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1852...

, an Anglican clergyman (later Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

), and his wife Mary Sidgwick Benson

Mary Sidgwick Benson

Mary Sidgwick Benson was a Victorian hostess, notable as the wife of Edward Benson, who later became archbishop of Canterbury, and for her later relationship with Lucy Tait, daughter of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Archibald Campbell Tait...

, the sister of philosopher Henry Sidgwick

Henry Sidgwick

Henry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, a member of the Metaphysical Society, and promoted the higher education of women...

. Margaret was one of the first women to be admitted to Oxford University, where she attended Lady Margaret Hall

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....

.

She was the first woman to be granted a concession to excavate in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. With her companion, Janet Gourlay

Janet Gourlay

Janet A. Gourlay was a Scottish Egyptologist, born in Glasgow.She briefly studied at University College, London, with William Matthew Flinders Petrie and joined Margaret Benson in 1896 in her second season of excavation at the Mut Complex in Karnak, Thebes, in Egypt. She became Margaret's...

, she excavated for three seasons (1895-97) in the Temple of the Goddess Mut, Mut Complex

Precinct of Mut

The Precinct of Mut, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex and occupies some 150,000 m². It is dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Mut, the mother goddess. The area in which the precinct is located, originally was known as...

, a part of Karnak

Karnak

The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...

, Thebes

Thebes, Egypt

Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

.

She suffered from frail health most of her life and was not able to continue the excavation after 1897.